Joint consideration of the maximum number of channel state information reference signal and positioning reference signal resources

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are techniques for wireless communication. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) transmits capability information indicating a maximum number of downlink resources for both positioning reference signal (PRS) resources and downlink resources for one or more second downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable of processing per unit of time, receives, from a serving transmission-reception point (TRP), a configuration of one or more downlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals, wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is less than the maximum number, and receives, from a location server, a configuration of one or more PRS resources for the serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is less than the maximum number.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application for patent claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119to Greek Patent Application No. 20190100438, entitled “JOINTCONSIDERATION OF THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CHANNEL STATE INFORMATIONREFERENCE SIGNAL AND POSITIONING REFERENCE SIGNAL RESOURCES,” filed Oct.4, 2019, assigned to the assignee hereof, and expressly incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless communication systems have developed through variousgenerations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service(1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (includinginterim 2.5G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speed data,Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (4G) service(e.g., LTE or WiMax). There are presently many different types ofwireless communication systems in use, including Cellular and PersonalCommunications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systemsinclude the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), anddigital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA),Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA), the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), etc.

A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio(NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers ofconnections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5Gstandard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, isdesigned to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second toeach of tens of thousands of users, with 1 gigabit per second to tens ofworkers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands ofsimultaneous connections should be supported in order to support largewireless sensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of 5Gmobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to thecurrent 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should beenhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to currentstandards.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or moreaspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not beconsidered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects,nor should the following summary be considered to identify key orcritical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineatethe scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, thefollowing summary has the sole purpose to present certain conceptsrelating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosedherein in a simplified form to precede the detailed descriptionpresented below.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a method of wireless communicationperformed by a user equipment (UE), including: transmitting capabilityinformation indicating a maximum number of downlink resources for bothpositioning reference signal (PRS) resources and downlink resources forone or more second downlink channels or signals that the UE is capableof processing per unit of time; receiving, from a servingtransmission-reception point (TRP), a configuration of one or moredownlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals, wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is lessthan the maximum number; and receiving, from a network entity, aconfiguration of one or more PRS resources for the serving TRP, one ormore neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or more PRSresources is less than the maximum number.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a method of wireless communicationperformed by a serving TRP of a UE, including: receiving capabilityinformation indicating a number of downlink resources for one or moresecond downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable of processingper unit of time, wherein the UE is capable of processing up to amaximum number of downlink resources for both PRS resources and downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals perthe unit of time; and configuring the UE with one or more downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals,wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is less than orequal to the number of downlink resources for the one or more seconddownlink channels or signals received in the capability information.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a method of wireless communicationperformed by a network entity engaged in a positioning session with aUE, including: receiving capability information indicating a number ofPRS resources that the UE is capable of processing per unit of time,wherein the UE is capable of processing up to a maximum number ofdownlink resources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for oneor more second downlink channels or signals per the unit of time; andconfiguring the UE with one or more PRS resources for a serving TRP, oneor more neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or morePRS resources is less than or equal to the number of PRS resourcesreceived in the capability information.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a UE including: a memory; at leastone transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled tothe memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: cause the at least one transceiver to transmit capabilityinformation indicating a maximum number of downlink resources for bothPRS resources and downlink resources for one or more second downlinkchannels or signals that the UE is capable of processing per unit oftime; receive, from a serving TRP via the at least one transceiver, aconfiguration of one or more downlink resources for the one or moresecond downlink channels or signals, wherein a number of the one or moredownlink resources is less than the maximum number; and receive, from anetwork entity via the at least one transceiver, a configuration of oneor more PRS resources for the serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs,or both, wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is less thanthe maximum number.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a serving TRP including: a memory;at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicativelycoupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least oneprocessor configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver,capability information indicating a number of downlink resources for oneor more second downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable ofprocessing per unit of time, wherein the UE is capable of processing upto a maximum number of downlink resources for both PRS resources anddownlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals per the unit of time; and configure the UE with one or moredownlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals, wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is lessthan or equal to the number of downlink resources for the one or moresecond downlink channels or signals received in the capabilityinformation.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a network entity including: amemory; at least one network interface, and at least one processorcommunicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one networkinterface, the at least one processor configured to: receive, via the atleast one network interface, capability information indicating a numberof PRS resources that a UE is capable of processing per unit of time,wherein the UE is capable of processing up to a maximum number ofdownlink resources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for oneor more second downlink channels or signals per the unit of time; andconfigure the UE with one or more PRS resources for a serving TRP, oneor more neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or morePRS resources is less than or equal to the number of PRS resourcesreceived in the capability information.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a UE including: means fortransmitting capability information indicating a maximum number ofdownlink resources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for oneor more second downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable ofprocessing per unit of time; means for receiving, from a serving TRP, aconfiguration of one or more downlink resources for the one or moresecond downlink channels or signals, wherein a number of the one or moredownlink resources is less than the maximum number; and means forreceiving, from a network entity, a configuration of one or more PRSresources for the serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, or both,wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is less than themaximum number.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a serving TRP including: means forreceiving capability information indicating a number of downlinkresources for one or more second downlink channels or signals that a UEis capable of processing per unit of time, wherein the UE is capable ofprocessing up to a maximum number of downlink resources for both PRSresources and downlink resources for the one or more second downlinkchannels or signals per the unit of time; and means for configuring theUE with one or more downlink resources for the one or more seconddownlink channels or signals, wherein a number of the one or moredownlink resources is less than or equal to the number of downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signalsreceived in the capability information.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a network entity including: meansfor receiving capability information indicating a number of PRSresources that a UE is capable of processing per unit of time, whereinthe UE is capable of processing up to a maximum number of downlinkresources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for one or moresecond downlink channels or signals per the unit of time; and means forconfiguring the UE with one or more PRS resources for a serving TRP, oneor more neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or morePRS resources is less than or equal to the number of PRS resourcesreceived in the capability information.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executableinstructions including: at least one instruction instructing a UE totransmit capability information indicating a maximum number of downlinkresources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for one or moresecond downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable of processingper unit of time; at least one instruction instructing the UE toreceive, from a serving TRP, a configuration of one or more downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals,wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is less than themaximum number; and at least one instruction instructing the UE toreceive, from a network entity, a configuration of one or more PRSresources for the serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, or both,wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is less than themaximum number.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executableinstructions including: at least one instruction instructing a servingTRP of a UE to receive capability information indicating a number ofdownlink resources for one or more second downlink channels or signalsthat the UE is capable of processing per unit of time, wherein the UE iscapable of processing up to a maximum number of downlink resources forboth PRS resources and downlink resources for the one or more seconddownlink channels or signals per the unit of time; and at least oneinstruction instructing the serving TRP to configure the UE with one ormore downlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals, wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is lessthan or equal to the number of downlink resources for the one or moresecond downlink channels or signals received in the capabilityinformation.

An aspect of the disclosure includes a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executableinstructions including: at least one instruction instructing a networkentity to receive capability information indicating a number of PRSresources that a UE is capable of processing per unit of time, whereinthe UE is capable of processing up to a maximum number of downlinkresources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for one or moresecond downlink channels or signals per the unit of time; and at leastone instruction instructing the network entity to configure the UE withone or more PRS resources for a serving TRP, one or more neighboringTRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is lessthan or equal to the number of PRS resources received in the capabilityinformation.

Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosedherein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on theaccompanying drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description ofvarious aspects of the disclosure and are provided solely forillustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications system,according to various aspects.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless network structures,according to various aspects.

FIGS. 3A to 3C are simplified block diagrams of several sample aspectsof components that may be employed in a UE, a base station, and anetwork entity, respectively.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating examples of frame structuresand channels within the frame structures, according to aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary physical layer procedure forprocessing PRS transmitted on multiple beams, according to variousaspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 6 to 8 illustrate exemplary methods of wireless communication,according to aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description andrelated drawings directed to various examples provided for illustrationpurposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from thescope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of thedisclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as notto obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

The words “exemplary” and/or “example” are used herein to mean “servingas an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described hereinas “exemplary” and/or “example” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term“aspects of the disclosure” does not require that all aspects of thedisclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode ofoperation.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the information andsignals described below may be represented using any of a variety ofdifferent technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions,commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may bereferenced throughout the description below may be represented byvoltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles,optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending inpart on the particular application, in part on the desired design, inpart on the corresponding technology, etc.

Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions tobe performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will berecognized that various actions described herein can be performed byspecific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or moreprocessors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s)of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirelywithin any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that,upon execution, would cause or instruct an associated processor of adevice to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the variousaspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of differentforms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of theclaimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects describedherein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be describedherein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the describedaction.

As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” arenot intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radioaccess technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may beany wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tabletcomputer, laptop computer, tracking device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch,glasses, augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.),vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet ofThings (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wirelesscommunications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certaintimes) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network(RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeablyas an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,”a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,”a “user terminal” or UT, a “mobile device,” a “mobile terminal,” a“mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicatewith a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs canbe connected with external networks such as the Internet and with otherUEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core networkand/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wiredaccess networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g.,based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11, etc.) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs incommunication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed,and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a networknode, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), aNew Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A basestation may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs,including supporting data, voice, and/or signaling connections for thesupported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edgenode signaling functions while in other systems it may provideadditional control and/or network management functions. A communicationlink through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called anuplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse controlchannel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through whichthe base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) orforward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, abroadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein theterm traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink/reverse ordownlink/forward traffic channel.

The term “base station” may refer to a single physicaltransmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that mayor may not be co-located. For example, where the term “base station”refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna ofthe base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) ofthe base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multipleco-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas(e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where thebase station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term“base station” refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, thephysical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network ofspatially separated antennas connected to a common source via atransport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base stationconnected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-locatedphysical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurementreport from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference RFsignals (or simply “reference signals”) the UE is measuring. Because aTRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receiveswireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from orreception at a base station are to be understood as referring to aparticular TRP of the base station.

In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base stationmay not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data,voice, and/or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmitreference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and/or may receiveand measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may bereferred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals toUEs) and/or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving andmeasuring signals from UEs).

An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequencythat transports information through the space between a transmitter anda receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RFsignal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, the receivermay receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RFsignal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals throughmultipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different pathsbetween the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath”RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a“wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where it is clear from thecontext that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RFsignal.

According to various aspects, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wirelesscommunications system 100. The wireless communications system 100 (whichmay also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) mayinclude various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular basestations) and/or small cell base stations (low power cellular basestations). In an aspect, the macro cell base station may include eNBsand/or ng-eNBs where the wireless communications system 100 correspondsto an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communications system 100corresponds to a NR network, or a combination of both, and the smallcell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with acore network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC))through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one ormore location servers 172 (which may be part of core network 170 or maybe external to core network 170). In addition to other functions, thebase stations 102 may perform functions that relate to one or more oftransferring user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering,integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions(e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interferencecoordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distributionfor non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection,synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service(MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management(RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The basestations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly(e.g., through the EPC/5GC) over backhaul links 134, which may be wiredor wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Eachof the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cellsmay be supported by a base station 102 in each geographic coverage area110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communicationwith a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to asa carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), andmay be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier(PCI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI))for distinguishing cells operating via the same or a different carrierfrequency. In some cases, different cells may be configured according todifferent protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC),narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others)that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell issupported by a specific base station, the term “cell” may refer toeither or both of the logical communication entity and the base stationthat supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a TRPis typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms “cell”and “TRP” may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell”may also refer to a geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., asector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used forcommunication within some portion of geographic coverage areas 110.

While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of thegeographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by alarger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell basestation 102′ may have a geographic coverage area 110′ that substantiallyoverlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macro cellbase stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. Aheterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which mayprovide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group(CSG).

The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissionsfrom a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (also referred to asforward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. Thecommunication links 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, includingspatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. Thecommunication links 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies.Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink anduplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink thanfor uplink).

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication withWLAN stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 152 and/or the WLAN AP 150 may performa clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedureprior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel isavailable.

The small cell base station 102′ may operate in a licensed and/or anunlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequencyspectrum, the small cell base station 102′ may employ LTE or NRtechnology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as usedby the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102′, employing LTE/5Gin an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/orincrease capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum maybe referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred toas LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a millimeterwave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and/ornear mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely highfrequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHFhas a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeterand 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as amillimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with awavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) bandextends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave.Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band have highpath loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and theUE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and/or receive) over a mmWcommunication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path lossand short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternativeconfigurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit usingmmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciatedthat the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not beconstrued to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in aspecific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a basestation) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in alldirections (omni-directionally). With transmit beamforming, the networknode determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located(relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a strongerdownlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing afaster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal for the receivingdevice(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal whentransmitting, a network node can control the phase and relativeamplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters thatare broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use anarray of antennas (referred to as a “phased array” or an “antennaarray”) that creates a beam of RF waves that can be “steered” to pointin different directions, without actually moving the antennas.Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to theindividual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that theradio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase theradiation in a desired direction, while canceling to suppress radiationin undesired directions.

Transmit beams may be quasi-collocated, meaning that they appear to thereceiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless ofwhether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselvesare physically collocated. In NR, there are four types ofquasi-collocation (QCL) relations. Specifically, a QCL relation of agiven type means that certain parameters about a second reference RFsignal on a second beam can be derived from information about a sourcereference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RFsignal is QCL Type A, the receiver can use the source reference RFsignal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, anddelay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type B, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift andDoppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift andaverage delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receiveparameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel.

In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RFsignals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver canincrease the gain setting and/or adjust the phase setting of an array ofantennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., to increase thegain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when areceiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means the beamgain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along otherdirections, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest comparedto the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams availableto the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength(e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal receivedquality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) ofthe RF signals received from that direction.

Receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means thatparameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can bederived from information about a receive beam for a first referencesignal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receiveone or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioningreference signals (PRS), navigation reference signals (NRS), trackingreference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS),cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state informationreference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS),secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks(SSBs), etc.) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beamfor sending one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., uplinkpositioning reference signals (UL-PRS), sounding reference signal (SRS),demodulation reference signals (DMRS), etc.) to that base station basedon the parameters of the receive beam.

Note that a “downlink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receivebeam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base stationis forming the downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, thedownlink beam is a transmit beam. If the UE is forming the downlinkbeam, however, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink referencesignal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam may be either a transmit beam or areceive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a basestation is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and ifa UE is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., basestations 102/180, UEs 104/182) operate is divided into multiplefrequency ranges, FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In amulti-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies isreferred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primaryserving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies arereferred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or“SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrieroperating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104/182and the cell in which the UE 104/182 either performs the initial radioresource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiatesthe RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carriercarries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may be acarrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case).A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g.,FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is establishedbetween the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used toprovide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carriermay be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier maycontain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example,those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier,since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typicallyUE-specific. This means that different UEs 104/182 in a cell may havedifferent downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplinkprimary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier ofany UE 104/182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance theload on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell oran SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency/component carrier overwhich some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “servingcell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can beused interchangeably.

For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilizedby the macro cell base stations 102 may be an anchor carrier (or“PCell”) and other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations102 and/or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers(“SCells”). The simultaneous transmission and/or reception of multiplecarriers enables the UE 104/182 to significantly increase its datatransmission and/or reception rates. For example, two 20 MHz aggregatedcarriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to atwo-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz), compared to that attainedby a single 20 MHz carrier.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or moreUEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or morecommunication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D)peer-to-peer (P2P) links. In the example of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2Plink 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellularconnectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to theWLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-basedInternet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 maybe supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D),WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, and so on.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164 thatmay communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communicationlink 120 and/or the mmW base station 180 over a mmW communication link184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support a PCelland one or more SCells for the UE 164 and the mmW base station 180 maysupport one or more SCells for the UE 164.

According to various aspects, FIG. 2A illustrates an example wirelessnetwork structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as aNext Generation Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as control planefunctions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access,gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212, (e.g., UE gatewayfunction, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operatecooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC210 and specifically to the control plane functions 214 and user planefunctions 212. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also beconnected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 maydirectly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In someconfigurations, the New RAN 220 may only have one or more gNBs 222,while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 andgNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with UEs 204(e.g., any of the UEs depicted in FIG. 1). Another optional aspect mayinclude location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC210 to provide location assistance for UEs 204. The location server 230can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physicallyseparate servers, different software modules on a single server,different software modules spread across multiple physical servers,etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. Thelocation server 230 can be configured to support one or more locationservices for UEs 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via thecore network, 5GC 210, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated).Further, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component ofthe core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network.

According to various aspects, FIG. 2B illustrates another examplewireless network structure 250. For example, a 5GC 260 can be viewedfunctionally as control plane functions, provided by an access andmobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions,provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperativelyto form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). User plane interface 263 andcontrol plane interface 265 connect the ng-eNB 224 to the 5GC 260 andspecifically to UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively. In an additionalconfiguration, a gNB 222 may also be connected to the 5GC 260 viacontrol plane interface 265 to AMF 264 and user plane interface 263 toUPF 262. Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 viathe backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity tothe 5GC 260. In some configurations, the New RAN 220 may only have oneor more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of bothng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicatewith UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs depicted in FIG. 1). The basestations of the New RAN 220 communicate with the AMF 264 over the N2interface and with the UPF 262 over the N3 interface.

The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connectionmanagement, reachability management, mobility management, lawfulinterception, transport for session management (SM) messages between theUE 204 and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxyservices for routing SM messages, access authentication and accessauthorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messagesbetween the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (notshown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 alsointeracts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) andthe UE 204, and receives the intermediate key that was established as aresult of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case ofauthentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunicationssystem) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves thesecurity material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 alsoinclude security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key fromthe SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Thefunctionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services managementfor regulatory services, transport for location services messagesbetween the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (whichacts as a location server 230), transport for location services messagesbetween the New RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system (EPS)bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE 204mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supportsfunctionalities for non-3GPP access networks.

Functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point forintra-/inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an externalprotocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a data network(not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection,user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, trafficsteering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usagereporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g.,uplink/downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in thedownlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoSflow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink anddownlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering, and sending and forwarding of one or more “end markers” tothe source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support transfer of locationservices messages over a user plane between the UE 204 and a locationserver, such as a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform(SLP) 272.

The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internetprotocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and controlof user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF262 to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part ofpolicy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. Theinterface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 isreferred to as the N11 interface.

Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be incommunication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers(e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on asingle server, different software modules spread across multiplephysical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a singleserver. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more locationservices for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the corenetwork, 5GC 260, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270may communicate with the AMF 264, New RAN 220, and UEs 204 over acontrol plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to conveysignaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicatewith UEs 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B) over a userplane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data likethe transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several exemplary components(represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a basestation 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations describedherein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody anyof the network functions described herein, including the location server230, the LMF 270, and the SLP 272) to support the file transmissionoperations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that thesecomponents may be implemented in different types of apparatuses indifferent implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC),etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into otherapparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses ina system may include components similar to those described to providesimilar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or moreof the components. For example, an apparatus may include multipletransceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiplecarriers and/or communicate via different technologies.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include wireless wide areanetwork (WWAN) transceiver 310 and 350, respectively, configured tocommunicate via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown),such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, and/or the like.The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be connected to one or moreantennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other networknodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., ng-eNBs,gNBs), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.)over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., some set oftime/frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWANtransceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured for transmittingand encoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications,information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receivingand decoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications,information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with thedesignated RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 includeone or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting andencoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and358, respectively.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in somecases, wireless local area network (WLAN) transceivers 320 and 360,respectively. The WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to oneor more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, for communicating with othernetwork nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.,via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, etc.)over a wireless communication medium of interest. The WLAN transceivers320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmitting and encodingsignals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and soon), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and soon), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically,the transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368,respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, forreceiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively.

Transceiver circuitry including at least one transmitter and at leastone receiver may comprise an integrated device (e.g., embodied as atransmitter circuit and a receiver circuit of a single communicationdevice) in some implementations, may comprise a separate transmitterdevice and a separate receiver device in some implementations, or may beembodied in other ways in other implementations. In an aspect, atransmitter may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g.,antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits therespective apparatus to perform transmit “beamforming,” as describedherein. Similarly, a receiver may include or be coupled to a pluralityof antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antennaarray, that permits the respective apparatus to perform receivebeamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter andreceiver may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316,326, 356, 366), such that the respective apparatus can only receive ortransmit at a given time, not both at the same time. A wirelesscommunication device (e.g., one or both of the transceivers 310 and 320and/or 350 and 360) of the UE 302 and/or the base station 304 may alsocomprise a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performingvarious measurements.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in somecases, satellite positioning systems (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. TheSPS receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336and 376, respectively, for receiving SPS signals 338 and 378,respectively, such as global positioning system (GPS) signals, globalnavigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidousignals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC),Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. The SPS receivers 330 and 370may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving andprocessing SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively. The SPS receivers 330and 370 request information and operations as appropriate from the othersystems, and performs calculations necessary to determine positions ofthe UE 302 and the base station 304 using measurements obtained by anysuitable SPS algorithm.

The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include at leastone network interfaces 380 and 390 for communicating with other networkentities. For example, the network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one ormore network access ports) may be configured to communicate with one ormore network entities via a wire-based or wireless backhaul connection.In some aspects, the network interfaces 380 and 390 may be implementedas transceivers configured to support wire-based or wireless signalcommunication. This communication may involve, for example, sending andreceiving messages, parameters, and/or other types of information.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 alsoinclude other components that may be used in conjunction with theoperations as disclosed herein. The UE 302 includes processor circuitryimplementing a processing system 332 for providing functionalityrelating to, for example, positioning operations, and for providingother processing functionality. The base station 304 includes aprocessing system 384 for providing functionality relating to, forexample, positioning operations as disclosed herein, and for providingother processing functionality. The network entity 306 includes aprocessing system 394 for providing functionality relating to, forexample, positioning operations as disclosed herein, and for providingother processing functionality. In an aspect, the processing systems332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purposeprocessors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors(DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmablelogic devices or processing circuitry.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 includememory circuitry implementing memory components 340, 386, and 396 (e.g.,each including a memory device), respectively, for maintaininginformation (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources,thresholds, parameters, and so on). In some cases, the UE 302, the basestation 304, and the network entity 306 may include PRS/CSI-RS resourcemanagers 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The PRS/CSI-RS resourcemanagers 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of orcoupled to the processing systems 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that,when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the networkentity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In otheraspects, the PRS/CSI-RS resource managers 342, 388, and 398 may beexternal to the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of amodem processing system, integrated with another processing system,etc.). Alternatively, the PRS/CSI-RS resource managers 342, 388, and 398may be memory modules (as shown in FIGS. 3A-C) stored in the memorycomponents 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by theprocessing systems 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system,another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality describedherein.

The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the processingsystem 332 to provide movement and/or orientation information that isindependent of motion data derived from signals received by the WWANtransceiver 310, the WLAN transceiver 320, and/or the SPS receiver 330.By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g.,a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, ageomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometricpressure altimeter), and/or any other type of movement detection sensor.Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include a plurality of different typesof devices and combine their outputs in order to provide motioninformation. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of amulti-axis accelerometer and orientation sensors to provide the abilityto compute positions in 2D and/or 3D coordinate systems.

In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 for providingindications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to a user and/orfor receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing devicesuch a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on). Although notshown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also includeuser interfaces.

Referring to the processing system 384 in more detail, in the downlink,IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processingsystem 384. The processing system 384 may implement functionality for anRRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio linkcontrol (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. Theprocessing system 384 may provide RRC layer functionality associatedwith broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block(MIB), system information blocks (SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g.,RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionmodification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, andmeasurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layerfunctionality associated with header compression/decompression, security(ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification),and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated withthe transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automaticrepeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLCservice data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, andreordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated withmapping between logical channels and transport channels, schedulinginformation reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logicalchannel prioritization.

The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1functionality associated with various signal processing functions.Layer-1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include errordetection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching,mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handlesmapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes(e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying(QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation(M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split intoparallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with areference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, andthen combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) toproduce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream.The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatialstreams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used todetermine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatialprocessing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signaland/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Eachspatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respectivespatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives a signal through its respectiveantenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 332.The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement Layer-1 functionalityassociated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatialstreams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams aredestined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into asingle OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDMsymbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a fastFourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises aseparate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. Thesymbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered anddemodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation pointstransmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be basedon channel estimates computed by a channel estimator. The soft decisionsare then decoded and de-interleaved to recover the data and controlsignals that were originally transmitted by the base station 304 on thephysical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to theprocessing system 332, which implements Layer-3 and Layer-2functionality.

In the uplink, the processing system 332 provides demultiplexing betweentransport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, headerdecompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets fromthe core network. The processing system 332 is also responsible forerror detection.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlinktransmission by the base station 304, the processing system 332 providesRRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB,SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCPlayer functionality associated with header compression/decompression,and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrityverification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer ofupper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation,segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC dataPDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionalityassociated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels,multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing ofMAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correctionthrough hybrid automatic repeat request (HARD), priority handling, andlogical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a referencesignal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used bythe transmitter 314 to select the appropriate coding and modulationschemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streamsgenerated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s)316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a respectivespatial stream for transmission.

The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 302. The receiver 352 receives a signal through its respectiveantenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 384.

In the uplink, the processing system 384 provides demultiplexing betweentransport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, headerdecompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from theUE 302. IP packets from the processing system 384 may be provided to thecore network. The processing system 384 is also responsible for errordetection.

For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and/or the networkentity 306 are shown in FIGS. 3A-C as including various components thatmay be configured according to the various examples described herein. Itwill be appreciated, however, that the illustrated blocks may havedifferent functionality in different designs.

The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and thenetwork entity 306 may communicate with each other over data buses 334,382, and 392, respectively. The components of FIGS. 3A-C may beimplemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components ofFIGS. 3A-C may be implemented in one or more circuits such as, forexample, one or more processors and/or one or more ASICs (which mayinclude one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and/orincorporate at least one memory component for storing information orexecutable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. Forexample, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to346 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the UE302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriateconfiguration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of thefunctionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented byprocessor and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., byexecution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration ofprocessor components). Also, some or all of the functionalityrepresented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by processor andmemory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution ofappropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processorcomponents). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and/or functionsare described herein as being performed “by a UE,” “by a base station,”“by a positioning entity,” etc. However, as will be appreciated, suchoperations, acts, and/or functions may actually be performed by specificcomponents or combinations of components of the UE, base station,positioning entity, etc., such as the processing systems 332, 384, 394,the transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, the memory components 340, 386,and 396, the PRS/CSI-RS resource managers 342, 388, and 398, etc.

Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplinktransmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). FIG.4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a downlink framestructure, according to aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 4B is a diagram430 illustrating an example of channels within the downlink framestructure, according to aspects of the disclosure. Other wirelesscommunications technologies may have different frame structures and/ordifferent channels.

LTE, and in some cases NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink andsingle-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink.Unlike LTE, however, NR has an option to use OFDM on the uplink as well.OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K)orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones,bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general,modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in thetime domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may befixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on thesystem bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15kHz and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal FFT size may beequal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5,5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth mayalso be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16subbands for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz,respectively.

LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing, symbol length,etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ), forexample, subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240kHz or greater may be available. Table 1 provided below lists somevarious parameters for different NR numerologies.

TABLE 1 Max. nominal system BW (MHz) Slot Symbol with SCS Symbols/Slots/ Slots/ Duration Duration 4K FFT μ (kHz) Sot Subframe Frame (ms)(μs) size 0 15 14 1 10 1 66.7 50 1 30 14 2 20 0.5 33.3 100 2 60 14 4 400.25 16.7 100 3 120 14 8 80 0.125 8.33 400 4 240 14 16 160 0.0625 4.17800

In the example of FIGS. 4A and 4B, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus,in the time domain, a frame (e.g., 10 ms) is divided into 10 equallysized subframes of 1 ms each, and each subframe includes one time slot.In FIGS. 4A and 4B, time is represented horizontally (e.g., on the Xaxis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequency isrepresented vertically (e.g., on the Y axis) with frequency increasing(or decreasing) from bottom to top.

A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each time slotincluding one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (alsoreferred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. Theresource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs).An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and onesubcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of FIGS. 4A and4B, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutivesubcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in thetime domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RBmay contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and sixconsecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. Thenumber of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). TheDL-RS may include PRS in LTE, NRS in 5G, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS,PSS, SSS, SSB, etc. FIG. 4A illustrates exemplary locations of REscarrying PRS (labeled “R”). Note that the terms “positioning referencesignal” and “PRS” may sometimes refer to specific reference signals thatare used for positioning in LTE systems. However, as used herein, unlessotherwise indicated, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS”refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning,such as but not limited to, PRS in LTE, NRS in 5G, TRS, PTRS, CRS,CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc.

A collection of resource elements (REs) that are used for transmissionof PRS is referred to as a “PRS resource.” The collection of resourceelements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and ‘N’ (e.g., 1or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. In agiven OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupiesconsecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

The transmission of a PRS resource within a given PRB has a particularcomb size (also referred to as the “comb density”). A comb size ‘N’represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency/tone spacing) withineach symbol of a PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a combsize ‘N,’ PRS are transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of aPRB. For example, for comb-4, for each of the fours symbols of the PRSresource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier(e.g., subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit PRS of the PRSresource. Currently, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12are supported for DL-PRS. FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary PRS resourceconfiguration for comb-6 (which spans six symbols). That is, thelocations of the shaded REs (labeled “R”) indicate a comb-6 PRS resourceconfiguration.

A “PRS resource set” is a set of PRS resources used for the transmissionof PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Inaddition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated withthe same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set IDand is associated with a particular TRP (identified by a cell ID). Inaddition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the sameperiodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the samerepetition factor across slots. The periodicity may have a lengthselected from 2^(m) {4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640,1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} slots, with μ=0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factormay have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam(and/or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmitone or more beams). That is, each PRS resource of a PRS resource set maybe transmitted on a different beam, and as such, a “PRS resource,” orsimply “resource,” can also be referred to as a “beam.” Note that thisdoes not have any implications on whether the TRPs and the beams onwhich PRS are transmitted are known to the UE.

A “PRS instance” or “PRS occasion” is one instance of a periodicallyrepeated time window (e.g., a group of one or more consecutive slots)where PRS are expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also bereferred to as a “PRS positioning occasion,” a “PRS positioninginstance, a “positioning occasion,” “a positioning instance,” or simplyan “occasion” or “instance.”

A “positioning frequency layer” (also referred to simply as a “frequencylayer”) is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets across one ormore TRPs that have the same values for certain parameters.Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the samesubcarrier spacing (SCS) and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning allnumerologies supported for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)are also supported for PRS), the same Point A, the same value of thedownlink PRS bandwidth, the same start PRB (and center frequency), andthe same comb-size. The Point A parameter takes the value of theparameter ARFCN-ValueNR (where “ARFCN” stands for “absoluteradio-frequency channel number”) and is an identifier/code thatspecifies a pair of physical radio channel used for transmission andreception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of fourPRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, upto four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resourcesets may be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of various channels within a downlinkslot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth, or systembandwidth, is divided into multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs). A BWP is acontiguous set of PRBs selected from a contiguous subset of the commonRBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. Generally, a maximum offour BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE canbe configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink, and up to four BWPson the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) may be active at agiven time, meaning the UE may only receive or transmit over one BWP ata time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to orgreater than the bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not contain theSSB.

Referring to FIG. 4B, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used bya UE to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity.A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by a UE to determine aphysical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Basedon the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identitygroup number, the UE can determine a PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE candetermine the locations of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physicalbroadcast channel (PBCH), which carries an MIB, may be logically groupedwith the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as an SS/PBCH).The MIB provides a number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and asystem frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted throughthe PBCH, such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink controlinformation (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs),each CCE including one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may spanmultiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle including one ormore REGs, each REG corresponding to 12 resource elements (one resourceblock) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain.The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH/DCI is referred toin NR as the control resource set (CORESET). In NR, a PDCCH is confinedto a single CORESET and is transmitted with its own DMRS. This enablesUE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

In the example of FIG. 4B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESETspans three symbols in the time domain. Unlike LTE control channels,which occupy the entire system bandwidth, in NR, PDCCH channels arelocalized to a specific region in the frequency domain (i.e., aCORESET). Thus, the frequency component of the PDCCH shown in FIG. 4B isillustrated as less than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note thatalthough the illustrated CORESET is contiguous in the frequency domain,it need not be. In addition, the CORESET may span less than threesymbols in the time domain.

The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resourceallocation (persistent and non-persistent) and descriptions aboutdownlink data transmitted to the UE. Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIscan be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of multipleformats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplinkscheduling, for non-MIMO downlink scheduling, for MIMO downlinkscheduling, and for uplink power control. A PDCCH may be transported by1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs in order to accommodate different DCI payloadsizes or coding rates.

PRS, and other types of positioning reference signals, are used for anumber of cellular network-based positioning technologies. Suchpositioning technologies include downlink-based, uplink-based, anddownlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-basedpositioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA)in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, anddownlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOApositioning procedure, a UE measures the differences between the timesof arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, NRS, PTRS,CSI-RS, SSB, etc.) received from pairs of base stations, referred to asreference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival(TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity (e.g., theUE, a location server, a serving base station, or other networkcomponent). More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers of areference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiplenon-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures theRSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-referencebase stations. Based on the known locations of the involved basestations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimatethe UE's location. For DL-AoD positioning, a base station measures theangle and other channel properties (e.g., signal strength) of thedownlink transmit beam used to communicate with a UE to estimate thelocation of the UE.

Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference ofarrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA issimilar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS)transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, a base station measuresthe angle and other channel properties (e.g., gain level) of the uplinkreceive beam used to communicate with a UE to estimate the location ofthe UE.

Downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID(E-CID) positioning and multi-round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (alsoreferred to as “multi-cell RTT”). In an RTT procedure, an initiator (abase station or a UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., a PRSor SRS) to a responder (a UE or base station), which transmits an RTTresponse signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTTresponse signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTTmeasurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal,referred to as the reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) measurement. Theinitiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of theRTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, referredto as the “Tx-Rx” measurement. The propagation time (also referred to asthe “time of flight”) between the initiator and the responder can becalculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx measurements. Based on thepropagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between theinitiator and the responder can be determined. For multi-RTTpositioning, a UE performs an RTT procedure with multiple base stationsto enable its location to be triangulated based on the known locationsof the base stations. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined withother positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improvelocation accuracy.

The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM)measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timingadvance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strengthof detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is thenestimated based on this information and the known locations of the basestations.

To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., locationserver 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. Forexample, the assistance data may include identifiers of the basestations (or the cells/TRPs of the base stations) from which to measurereference signals, the reference signal configuration parameters (e.g.,the number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity ofpositioning subframes, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence,reference signal identifier (ID), reference signal bandwidth, etc.),and/or other parameters applicable to the particular positioning method.Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the basestations themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overheadmessages, etc.). in some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbornetwork nodes itself without the use of assistance data.

A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as aposition estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or the like. Alocation estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g.,latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprisea street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of alocation. A location estimate may further be defined relative to someother known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude,longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include anexpected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volumewithin which the location is expected to be included with some specifiedor default level of confidence).

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary physical layer procedure 500 forprocessing PRS transmitted on multiple beams, according to variousaspects of the disclosure. At stage 510, the network (e.g., locationserver 230 or LMF 270, SLP 272) configures a given base station (e.g., agNB) to transmit beamformed PRS to one or more UEs in the coveragearea(s) of the cell(s) supported by the base station. The PRSconfiguration may include multiple instances of PRS to be beam sweptacross all AoDs for each cell at full transmit power per beam. In theexample of FIG. 5, the base station transmits PRS on a first beam (“Beam1”) at a first time (“Time=1”), a second beam (“Beam 2”) at a secondtime (“Time=2”), and so on until an Nth beam (“Beam N”) at an Nth time(“Time=N”), where N is an integer from 1 to 128 (i.e., there may be asmany as 128 beams for a single cell). The illustrated beams may be for aparticular cell supported by the base station, and the base station maybeam sweep PRS in each of the cells it supports. The base station maybeam sweep using a single antenna or antenna array, in which case, thatantenna or antenna array transmits each beam (Beams 1 to N).Alternatively, the base station may beam sweep using multiple antennasor antenna arrays, in which case, each antenna or antenna arraytransmits one or more of Beams 1 to N.

At 520, a given UE monitors all cells that it has been configured by thenetwork to monitor and that are configured to transmit PRS across theconfigured instances. There may need to be several PRSinstances/occasions to permit the UE to detect a sufficient number ofcells for positioning (due to the time it takes the UE to tune its radiofrom one cell to another and then monitor the cell). The UE measures thechannel, in particular the channel energy response (CER) and ToA, acrossall cells for which the UE has been configured to search for PRS.

At 530, the UE prunes the CERs across cells to determine the ToAs of thePRS beams. At 540, the ToAs can be used to estimate the location of theUE using, for example, OTDOA/DL-TDOA, RTT, DL-AoD, etc. The UE canestimate its position based on the ToAs if it has been provided with abase station almanac (BSA). Alternatively, the network can estimate theposition of the UE if the UE reports the ToAs to the network.

There is a significant increase in complexity between positioning in LTEand positioning in NR. In LTE, each base station (e.g., eNB) canconfigure only one PRS resource, every ‘T’ ms. In contrast, in NR, eachbase station (e.g., gNB) can configure ‘X’ PRS resources (i.e., X PRSbeams), every ‘T’ ms. ‘X’ can be a value up to 128 for FR2, up to eightfor FR1 time-division duplex (TDD) (e.g., China Mobile CommunicationCorporation (CMCC)), or 1 or 2 for FR1 FDD (e.g., T-Mobile E-911). Inaddition, in LTE, the FFT size is 2K, whereas in NR, the FFT size is 8K(to allow quadradic interpolation). Further, in LTE, there are 16REs/PRBs per PRS resource (specifically, 8 symbols with comb-6). In NR,however, the potential worst case may be six symbols times sixREs/symbols for 36 REs/PRBs per PRS resource. Thus, the potential worstcase increase in complexity between LTE and NR could be greater than1000 times.

Further increasing the complexity of positioning in NR, there are atleast 4,096 downlink PRS sequence identifiers (IDs) that can be used fora given PRS transmission. Such a downlink PRS sequence is generatedusing a Gold sequence generator as defined in 3GPP TechnicalSpecification (TS) 38.211, Section 5.2.1, which is publicly availableand incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. QPSK modulationmay be used for the downlink PRS signal transmitted using CP-OFDM. Thesequence for a PRS changes every OFDM symbol (in the time domain), andmultiple downlink PRS resources may appear on the same OFDM symbol (indifferent frequencies).

The following table illustrates differences/similarities between thecode initialization formulas used to generate the sequences used forvarious physical channels. As shown in Table 2, the sequence generationof a downlink PRS resource is similar to the one used for other downlinkPHY reference signals, such as CSI-RS.

TABLE 2 PHY Number Channel of bits c_(init) Formula PDSCH 16 bitsc_(init) = (2¹⁷(N_(symb) ^(slot)n_(s,f) ^(μ) + l + 1)(2N_(ID) ⁰ + 1) +2N_(ID) ⁰)mod2³¹ DMRS c_(init) = (2¹⁷(N_(symb) ^(slot)n_(s,f) ^(μ) + l +1)(2N_(ID) ¹ + 1) + 2N_(ID) ¹ + 1)mod2³¹ PDCCH 16 bits c_(init) =(2¹⁷(N_(symb) ^(slot)n_(s,f) ^(μ) + l + 1)(2N_(ID) + 1) + 2N_(ID))mod2³¹DMRS CSI-RS 10 bits c_(init) = (2¹⁰(N_(symb) ^(slot)n_(s,f) ^(μ) + l +1)(2N_(ID) + 1) + N_(ID))mod2³¹

In some cases, the maximum number of resources that can be sharedbetween different types of downlink reference signals may be specifiedas a UE capability. For example, the maximum number of CSI-RS resourcesfor RRM and reference signal SINR (RS-SINR) measurements across allmeasurement frequencies per slot may be specified. As another example,the maximum number of SSB and CSI-RS resources (the sum ofaperiodic/periodic/semi-persistent resources) across all componentcarriers configured to measure Layer 1 RSRP (L1-RSRP) within a slot maybe specified. Note that the L1-RSRP is a signal strength measurement ofa particular beam, and is used for beam management (BM). As yet anotherexample, the maximum number of RE mapping patterns supported by a UE maybe specified, where each pattern can be described as a resource(including non-zero power (NZP) and/or zero power (ZP) CSI-RS and CRS,CORESET and SSB, and bitmap). Note that such patterns may be counted asper symbol per component carrier.

Much of the complexity of downlink PRS resource processing includesdescrambling with the right sequence, which may be performed in ahardware block that is shared amongst other downlink reference signals,such as CSI-RS resources. Accordingly, the present disclosure proposesjoint consideration of the maximum number of CSI-RS and PRS resources asa UE capability.

In an aspect, a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) may transmitcapability information to the serving TRP and/or the location server(e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) indicating the combinedmaximum number of both CSI-RS resources and PRS resources that the UE iscapable of processing per unit of time. That is, the UE indicates amaximum number of resources that it can process per unit of time, andthat maximum number of resources is to be used for both CSI-RS resourcesand PRS resources. Note that the maximum number of resources that the UEis capable of processing per unit of time means the maximum number ofresources that the UE has the hardware functionality (e.g., number ofreceivers, processing system speed, and/or the like) to process per unitof time, or has otherwise been configured (e.g., by the originalequipment manufacturer (OEM), standards compliance, and/or the like) toprocess per unit of time). Thus, said another way, the maximum number ofresources the UE is capable of processing per unit of time is themaximum number of resources the UE is configured to process per unit oftime.

The number of CSI-RS resources per unit of time may be defined percomponent carrier (i.e., the number of CSI-RS resources per componentcarrier) or across all component carriers (i.e., the number of CSI-RSresources across all component carriers) or both (i.e., the number ofCSI-RS resources per component carrier up to a maximum number of CSI-RSresources across all component carriers). The number of CSI-RS resourcesmay include the following types of CSI-RS: (1) CSI-RS for RRM only, (2)CSI-RS for RRM and radio link management (RLM), or (3) all types ofCSI-RS resources (e.g., RRM, RLM, CSI, TRS, BM).

The number of PRS resources per unit of time may be defined perfrequency layer within a component carrier (i.e., the number of PRSresources per frequency layer per component carrier), across allfrequency layers within a component carrier (i.e., the number of PRSresource across all frequency layers for each component carrier), oracross all frequency layers within all component carriers (i.e., thenumber of PRS resources across all frequency layers across all componentcarriers).

Note that a frequency layer is a collection of PRS resources within acomponent carrier that are configured across multiple TRPs. A UE doesnot need a measurement gap to measure PRS resources within a particularfrequency layer, as the PRS resources within a particular frequencylayer are expected to have the same center frequency. However, the UEwould need a measurement gap to measure PRS resources within otherfrequency layers.

The unit of time may be defined as, for example, an OFDM symbol, a slot,a subframe, or a frame. As a specific example, a UE may specify that itcan process up to a combined maximum of two CSI-RS and PRS resources perOFDM symbol, but no more than a combined maximum of 10 CSI-RS and PRSresources per slot. As such, if the UE is configured to measure twoCSI-RS and PRS resources per OFDM symbol, then the UE may measure twoCSI-RS resources per OFDM symbol, two PRS resources per OFDM symbol, orone CSI-RS resource and one PRS resource per OFDM symbol. The UE wouldthen only be configured to measure CSI-RS and PRS resources in fivesymbols per slot, since it is measuring two CSI-RS and PRS resources persymbol and can only measure up to 10 CSI-RS and PRS resources per slot.

A serving TRP configures CSI-RS resources for the UE and the locationserver (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) configures PRSresources for the UE. Therefore, the serving TRP and the location serverneed to coordinate the allocation of CSI-RS resources and PRS resourceswithin the maximum specified by the UE. As such, both the serving TRPand the location server need to be informed of the UE's capability toprocess CSI-RS and PRS resources. However, if the UE only informs oneentity, such as the location server (e.g., over LTE positioning protocol(LPP)), then that entity needs to inform the other of the UE'scapability.

More specifically, a signaling/handshake/coordination/negotiation wouldbe needed between the location server and the serving TRP. As a firstexample, if the location server is not aware of the UE's capability, itcan ask the serving TRP (e.g., over LTE positioning protocol A (LPPa) orNR positioning protocol A (NRPPa)) for the maximum number of PRSresources that it can configure for the UE for that specific TRP. Theserving TRP can respond (e.g., over LPPa or NRPPa) based on the reportedUE capabilities. Specifically, in this example, the serving TRP cansubtract the CSI-RS resources that it has configured for the UE from themaximum number of CSI-RS and PRS resources received from the UE, andprovide the number of remaining resources to the location server. Thelocation server can then configure PRS resources for the UE up to thatremaining number of resources.

As a second example, if the location server is aware of the UE'scapability (either from the UE over LPP or from the serving TRP overLPPa/NRPPa), the location server can ask the serving TRP for the numberof CSI-RS resources it has configured for the UE. The serving TRP canrespond with that number, and the location server can calculate thenumber of remaining resources that can be allocated to PRS based on themaximum number from the UE and the number of CSI-RS resources from theserving TRP. The location server can also send the PRS configuration forthe UE to the serving TRP.

Note that in some case, such as a handover, the serving TRP may not haveallocated a full set of CSI-RS resources, or possibly any CSI-RSresources. However, it may not want to indicate to the location serverthat the location server can allocate the remaining resources to PRS,since the new serving TRP (i.e., the target of the handover) will needto allocate CSI-RS resources for the UE. As such, the current servingTRP may report a number to the location server that is more indicativeof the number of CSI-RS resources that are predicted to be allocated,and not the number of CSI-RS resources that are actuallyallocated/configured at the moment.

In some case, the UE may be configured with a larger number of CSI-RSresources and PRS resources than the reported capability. In that case,the applicable standard may specify that the UE is not expected to meetthe performance requirements (e.g., as specified by the location server,an application running on the UE requesting a position fix) for PRSand/or CSI-RS. For example, the UE may drop (i.e., omit the processingof) PRS resources to meet the maximum number of CSI-RS and PRS resourcesthe UE is capable of processing per unit of time. The UE may drop PRSresources because, generally, CSI-RS are of higher priority than PRS.

In an aspect, the UE may report to the location server (e.g., over LPP)that it was not able to process some of the PRS resources. Additionallyor alternatively, the UE may report the identifiers of the PRS resourcesthat were not processed, or the identifier(s) of the slot(s),subframe(s), frame(s), and/or occasion(s) for which PRS processing wasomitted.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method 600 of wireless communication,according to aspects of the disclosure. The method 600 may be performedby a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

At 610, the UE transmits capability information indicating a maximumnumber of downlink resources for both PRS resources and downlinkresources for one or more second downlink channels or signals that theUE is capable of processing (or, is configured to process) per unit oftime. Operation 610 may be performed by WWAN transceiver 310, processingsystem 332, memory component 340, and/or PRS/CSI-RS resource manager342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing thisoperation.

At 620, the UE receives, from a serving TRP (e.g., a TRP supported byany of the base stations described herein), a configuration of one ormore downlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals, wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is lessthan the maximum number. Operation 620 may be performed by WWANtransceiver 310, processing system 332, memory component 340, and/orPRS/CSI-RS resource manager 342, any or all of which may be consideredmeans for performing this operation.

At 630, the UE receives, from a network entity (e.g., a location server,such as location server 230, LMF 270), a configuration of one or morePRS resources for the serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, orboth, wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is less than themaximum number. Operation 630 may be performed by WWAN transceiver 310,processing system 332, memory component 340, and/or PRS/CSI-RS resourcemanager 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performingthis operation.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary method 700 of wireless communication,according to aspects of the disclosure. The method 700 may be performedby a serving TRP (e.g., a TRP supported by any of the base stationsdescribed herein) of a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

At 710, the serving TRP receives capability information indicating anumber of downlink resources for one or more second downlink channels orsignals that the UE is capable of processing (or, is configured toprocess) per unit of time, wherein the UE is capable of processing up toa maximum number of downlink resources for both PRS resources anddownlink resources for the second downlink signal per the unit of time.Operation 710 may be performed by WWAN transceiver 350, processingsystem 384, memory component 386, and/or PRS/CSI-RS resource manager388, any or all of which may be considered means for performing thisoperation.

At 720, the serving TRP configures the UE with one or more downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals,wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is less than orequal to the number of downlink resources for the second downlink signalreceived in the capability information. Operation 720 may be performedby WWAN transceiver 350, processing system 384, memory component 386,and/or PRS/CSI-RS resource manager 388, any or all of which may beconsidered means for performing this operation.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method 800 of wireless communication,according to aspects of the disclosure. The method 800 may be performedby a network entity, such as a location server (e.g., location server230, LMF 270, SLP 272), engaged in a positioning session with a UE(e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

At 810, the location server receives capability information indicating anumber of PRS resources that the UE is capable of processing (or, isconfigured to process) per unit of time, wherein the UE is capable ofprocessing up to a maximum number of downlink resources for both PRSresources and downlink resources for one or more second downlinkchannels or signals per the unit of time. Operation 810 may be performedby WWAN transceiver 390, processing system 394, memory component 396,and/or PRS/CSI-RS resource manager 398, any or all of which may beconsidered means for performing this operation.

At 820, the location server configures the UE with one or more PRSresources for a serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, or both,wherein a number of the one or more PRS resources is less than or equalto the number of PRS resources received in the capability information.Operation 820 may be performed by WWAN transceiver 390, processingsystem 394, memory component 396, and/or PRS/CSI-RS resource manager398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing thisoperation.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the variousillustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm stepsdescribed in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinationsof both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware andsoftware, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits,and steps have been described above generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orsoftware depends upon the particular application and design constraintsimposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement thedescribed functionality in varying ways for each particular application,but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented orperformed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, orother programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor maybe a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices,e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection withthe aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flashmemory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known inthe art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor suchthat the processor can read information from, and write information to,the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may beintegral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium mayreside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Inthe alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside asdiscrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage media may be any available media that can be accessed by acomputer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readablemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code inthe form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed bya computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a web site,server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologiessuch as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of thedisclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modificationscould be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosureas defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actionsof the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosuredescribed herein need not be performed in any particular order.Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described orclaimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation tothe singular is explicitly stated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication performed by auser equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting capability informationindicating a maximum number of downlink resources for both positioningreference signal (PRS) resources and downlink resources for one or moresecond downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable of processingper unit of time; receiving, from a serving transmission-reception point(TRP), a configuration of one or more downlink resources for the one ormore second downlink channels or signals, wherein a number of the one ormore downlink resources is less than the maximum number; and receiving,from a network entity, a configuration of one or more PRS resources forthe serving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a numberof the one or more PRS resources is less than the maximum number.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the one or more second downlink channels orsignals comprise one or more non-zero power (NZP) channel stateinformation reference signal (CSI-RS), one or more zero power (ZP)CSI-RS, one or more NZP cell-specific reference signals (CRS), ZP CRS,one or more control resource sets (CORESETs), one or moresynchronization signal blocks (SSBs), or any combination thereof, andthe one or more downlink resources comprise one or more NZP CSI-RSresources, one or more ZP CSI-RS resources, one or more NZP CRS, one ormore ZP CRS, one or more CORESETs, one or more SSBs, or any combinationthereof.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more downlinkresources are for radio resource management (RRM), radio link management(RLM), tracking reference signals (TRS), beam management (BM), Layer 1reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement, or anycombination thereof.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the unit of timecomprises an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, aslot, a mini-slot, a subframe, or a frame.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the capability information indicating the maximum number of PRSresources and downlink resources for the one or more second downlinkchannels or signals that the UE is capable of processing per the unit oftime comprises the capability information indicating that the downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals thatthe UE is capable of processing per the unit of time are per componentcarrier to which the UE can tune, across all component carriers to whichthe UE can tune, or both.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thecapability information indicating the maximum number of PRS resourcesand downlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals that the UE is capable of processing per the unit of timecomprises the capability information indicating that the PRS resourcesthat the UE is capable of processing per the unit of time are perfrequency layer within each component carrier to which the UE can tune,across all frequency layers within each component carrier to which theUE can tune, across all frequency layers across all component carriersto which the UE can tune, or any combination thereof.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a total of the number of the one or more PRS resourcesand the number of the one or more downlink resources is less than orequal to the maximum number of PRS resources and downlink resources forthe one or more second downlink channels or signals that the UE iscapable of processing per the unit of time.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein a total of the number of the one or more PRS resources and thenumber of the one or more downlink resources is greater than the maximumnumber of PRS resources and downlink resources for the one or moresecond downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable of processingper the unit of time.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:based on the total of the number of the one or more PRS resources andthe number of the one or more downlink resources being greater than themaximum number of PRS resources and downlink resources for the one ormore second downlink channels or signals that the UE is capable ofprocessing per the unit of time, refraining from processing a subset ofthe one or more PRS resources such that the UE only processes up to themaximum number of PRS resources and downlink resources for the one ormore second downlink channels or signals.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising: transmitting, to the network entity, an indicationthat the UE was not able to process all of the one or more PRSresources.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the indication comprisesidentifiers of the subset of the one or more PRS resources, identifiersof OFDM symbols, slots, subframes, frames, or PRS occasions during whichthe subset of the one or more PRS resources were transmitted, or anycombination thereof.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE transmitsthe capability information to the network entity or the serving TRP. 13.The method of claim 1, wherein: the UE is engaged in a positioningsession with the network entity, the serving TRP, and the one or moreneighboring TRPs.
 14. A method of wireless communication performed by aserving transmission-reception point (TRP) of a user equipment (UE),comprising: receiving capability information indicating a number ofdownlink resources for one or more second downlink channels or signalsthat the UE is capable of processing per unit of time, wherein the UE iscapable of processing up to a maximum number of downlink resources forboth positioning reference signal (PRS) resources and downlink resourcesfor the one or more second downlink channels or signals per the unit oftime; and configuring the UE with one or more downlink resources for theone or more second downlink channels or signals, wherein a number of theone or more downlink resources is less than or equal to the number ofdownlink resources for the one or more second downlink channels orsignals received in the capability information.
 15. The method of claim14, wherein the capability information further includes the maximumnumber of downlink resources for both PRS resources and downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals perthe unit of time.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the serving TRPreceives the capability information from the UE or a location serverengaged in a positioning session with the UE.
 17. The method of claim14, further comprising: transmitting the number of the one or moredownlink resources to a location server engaged in a positioning sessionwith the UE to enable the location server to configure one or more PRSresources for the serving TRP and one or more neighboring TRPs, whereina number of the one or more PRS resources is less than the maximumnumber of downlink resources for both PRS resources and downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals perthe unit of time.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein: the one or moresecond downlink channels or signals comprise one or more non-zero power(NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), one or morezero power (ZP) CSI-RS, one or more NZP cell-specific reference signals(CRS), ZP CRS, one or more control resource sets (CORESETs), one or moresynchronization signal blocks (SSBs), or any combination thereof, andthe one or more downlink resources comprise one or more NZP CSI-RSresources, one or more ZP CSI-RS resources, one or more NZP CRS, one ormore ZP CRS, one or more CORESETs, one or more SSBs, or any combinationthereof.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more downlinkresources are for radio resource management (RRM), radio link management(RLM), tracking reference signals (TRS), beam management (BM), or anycombination thereof.
 20. The method of claim 14, wherein the unit oftime comprises an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)symbol, a slot, a subframe, or a frame.
 21. The method of claim 14,wherein the capability information indicating the number of downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals thatthe UE is capable of processing per the unit of time comprises thecapability information indicating that the downlink resources for theone or more second downlink channels or signals that the UE is capableof processing per the unit of time are per component carrier to whichthe UE can tune, across all component carriers to which the UE can tune,or both.
 22. A method of wireless communication performed by a networkentity engaged in a positioning session with a user equipment (UE),comprising: receiving capability information indicating a number ofpositioning reference signal (PRS) resources that the UE is capable ofprocessing per unit of time, wherein the UE is capable of processing upto a maximum number of downlink resources for both PRS resources anddownlink resources for one or more second downlink channels or signalsper the unit of time; and configuring the UE with one or more PRSresources for a serving transmission-reception point (TRP), one or moreneighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number of the one or more PRSresources is less than or equal to the number of PRS resources receivedin the capability information.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein thecapability information further includes the maximum number of downlinkresources for both PRS resources and downlink resources for the one ormore second downlink channels or signals per the unit of time.
 24. Themethod of claim 22, wherein the network entity receives the capabilityinformation from the UE or a serving TRP of the UE.
 25. The method ofclaim 22, further comprising: transmitting the number of the one or morePRS resources to the serving TRP to enable the serving TRP to configureone or more downlink resources for the one or more second downlinkchannels or signals, wherein a number of the one or more downlinkresources is less than the maximum number of downlink resources for bothPRS resources and downlink resources for the one or more second downlinkchannels or signals per the unit of time.
 26. The method of claim 22,wherein: the one or more second downlink channels or signals compriseone or more non-zero power (NZP) channel state information referencesignal (CSI-RS), one or more zero power (ZP) CSI-RS, one or more NZPcell-specific reference signals (CRS), ZP CRS, one or more controlresource sets (CORESETs), one or more synchronization signal blocks(SSBs), or any combination thereof, and the one or more downlinkresources comprise one or more NZP CSI-RS resources, one or more ZPCSI-RS resources, one or more NZP CRS, one or more ZP CRS, one or moreCORESETs, one or more SSBs, or any combination thereof.
 27. The methodof claim 22, wherein the one or more downlink resources are for radioresource management (RRM), radio link management (RLM), trackingreference signals (TRS), beam management (BM), or any combinationthereof.
 28. The method of claim 22, wherein the unit of time comprisesan orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a slot, asubframe, or a frame.
 29. The method of claim 22, wherein the capabilityinformation indicating the number of PRS resources that the UE iscapable of processing per the unit of time comprises the capabilityinformation indicating that the PRS resources that the UE is capable ofprocessing per the unit of time are per frequency layer within eachcomponent carrier to which the UE can tune, across all frequency layerswithin each component carrier to which the UE can tune, across allfrequency layers across all component carriers to which the UE can tune,or any combination thereof.
 30. A user equipment (UE), comprising: amemory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processorcommunicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver,the at least one processor configured to: cause the at least onetransceiver to transmit capability information indicating a maximumnumber of downlink resources for both positioning reference signal (PRS)resources and downlink resources for one or more second downlinkchannels or signals that the UE is capable of processing per unit oftime; receive, from a serving transmission-reception point (TRP) via theat least one transceiver, a configuration of one or more downlinkresources for the one or more second downlink channels or signals,wherein a number of the one or more downlink resources is less than themaximum number; and receive, from a network entity via the at least onetransceiver, a configuration of one or more PRS resources for theserving TRP, one or more neighboring TRPs, or both, wherein a number ofthe one or more PRS resources is less than the maximum number.